# Number of biscuits vs cooking time **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [March 22, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687 "2026-03-22T17:26:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![a6ka97](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@a6ka97](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a6ka97)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/1 "2026-03-22T17:26:44Z")
Prepared frozen biscuits (out of a bag) for biscuits and gravy this morning. The cooking instructions said to preheat the oven to 375 degrees, place on an ungreased baking sheet 2” apart, and then the baking instructions stated for 1-6 biscuits bake for 17-21 minutes, 7-12 biscuits bake for 20-25 minutes. What difference would the number of biscuits make for the baking time? Does a 375 degree oven really care if there is 2 or 12 biscuits on a baking sheet? I could maybe understand if they were touching, but they are separated. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/2 "2026-03-22T17:58:32Z")
The more _frozen_ biscuits you are cooking, the harder the oven is going to have to work to maintain that temperature. Imagine if, instead of baking biscuits, you are cooking frozen ravioli in a big pot of water. If you dump in half a package of frozen ravioli instead of the whole package, it will not take as long for your water to get back up to boiling, and your half package will take less time to cook. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/3 "2026-03-22T18:06:38Z")
Fancy math aside. More needs more Less needs less If you really wanna mess with instructions, squeeze them together on the pan ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/4 "2026-03-22T18:09:23Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The more _frozen_ biscuits you are cooking, the harder the oven is going to have to work to maintain that temperature. Exactly this. Bringing a greater mass (i.e., more biscuits) up from frozen to fully baked will take more energy. And, as the oven really only is “element on” and “element off,” this means it takes more time. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2026, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/5 "2026-03-22T21:57:20Z")
It depends on the size of your oven. There is a point where the oven is so large compared to the additional mass of biscuits that the added time required to cook a larger batch of biscuits is negligible or nonexistent. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/6 "2026-03-28T00:44:30Z")
I’ve always wondered about the temperature of the ungreased baking tray. It seems to me that, even if the oven stayed pretty close to 375, a tray with 20 frozen biscuits on it might stay close to zero as they unfroze. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2026, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-biscuits-vs-cooking-time/1028687/7 "2026-03-28T01:21:12Z")
Metal heats up very fast in an oven, which is why preheating the oven is so important. Without preheating the metal gets hotter than the air, making the bottom cook faster than the top. This results in burned bottom biscuits. Once the air is at temp cooking becomes more even.